Power generation units operating on a relatively small electrical grid play a significant role in frequency regulation and maintenance. In the event of a regional blackout, individual units or a select group of units may be called upon to help in grid reconstruction. This grid reconstruction process may involve commanded steps in power generation at the unit, block, or plant level while operating in a local grid mode, where the discrete load steps are a calculated approach to supplying power that supports a coordinated demand.
Load step requirements or requests are defined in terms of percentage of Maximum Capacity Rating (MCR) of the individual power generation unit or for the MCR of the plant. An individual power generation unit's load step capability may be limited, however, by unit operability and or controllability factors such as the ability to supply fuel fast enough to avoid under speed events driven by the additional power draw or the ability to abruptly add load without transiently exceeding individual power generating unit limits. These constraints are also a function of factors such as ambient conditions and the current operating point for the individual unit.
In view of these known concerns it would be advantageous to provide enhanced positioning and operation of multiple power generation units in preparation for, and then the subsequent scheduling and execution of, actual power generation unit load steps within machine specific capabilities to support grid reconstruction in the event of a blackout. It would also be advantageous to provide a control mechanism that can act automatically or can be configured to report, in an advisory mode, the load step sizes that have acceptable likelihood of success from the current operating point.